Look, Don't Touch : Reflections on the Freedom to Feel

Author: hill, layla-roxanne

Psychology: emotions

Published on 20 February 2025 by 404 Ink in the United Kingdom as part of 'the Inklings' series.

Paperback / softback |
120 x 174 x 12 | 102g

What does the command “look, don’t touch” suggest about the (lack of) freedom to feel in society?layla-roxanne hill and Francesca Sobande reflect on society’s nurturing and obstructing of emotional expression, physical touch, and connectedness between different species and spaces.

Through the music of feeling across genres from nu-metal to hip-hop, the spectacle of “self-help” social media content, and powerful pop culture portrayals of (im)mortality and “monsters”, Look, Don’t Touch moves beyond the language of “being okay”. It embraces tenderness, dreaming, love, solidarity, messiness, release, and ultimately, feeling.